Building construction



Nov. 23, 1937. I c. c. PECK 2,

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed April 8, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS c. c. PECK 2,099,941

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION I Filed April 8, 1932 2 Shets-Sheet 2 will ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to building construction and the like, and more particularly to metallic structures in which the various elements or members may be connected by welding.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved metallic structure which will be extremely strong.

Another object is to providean improved metallic structure which may be easily erected.

Another object is to provide an improved metallic structure in which the parts may be easily and accurately positioned.

Another object is to provide an method of erecting metallic structures.

Other objects will hereinafter appear.

Heretofore, buildings have been erected which have been provided with metallic frame works. In larger buildings, such as offices, shops and the like, the members composing the metallic frame work have been most frequently riveted together, the joints being reinforced with brackets, gusset plates, and the like, and it has been necessary to perforate these members, brackets, and plates for the reception of the rivets, and thereafter to carefully align the holes. The production of these parts and the assembling and riveting operations have been relatively expensive, and therefore unsuitable for use in buildings of smaller size where the expense of the frame work was a proportionably more serious matter.

More recently, buildings having metallic frame work have been erected and the members welded together, the elements composing the frame work being still in several of the types which were used with the older riveted structures. The erection of these buildings has possibly been less expensive than that of the riveted structures but it has'been difficult to accurately align each member as it is brought into position, and has been difficult to form efiicient welds.

By the application of my invention, I render the erection of a metallic frame work a. relatively simple matter, and one which may to a large extent be performed in a, shop or other convenient place, rather than at the point of erection.

The resulting structure is easily assembled and simply welded, all joints being efficiently clamped into place and all welding operation performed in the most convenient direction, generally downwardly.

A better understanding of my invention will be had from a description of oneembodim'ent applied to a house or similar building, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

improved Figure 1 is "a fragmentary perspective view of a partially erected frame work.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a device for forming sections used in the frame work.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the operation of forming the splices between the ends of beams of I section and also showing two intersecting beams.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view of parts used in forming a splice between channel-shaped beams.

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view showing a modified form of clamping means for use in splicing I-beams.

Figure 6 is a plan view of means for seating the end of a post of I-section.

Figure '7 is a sectional View taken on the line VIIVII of Figure 6; and

Figures 8 and 9 are views corresponding to Figures 6 and 7 respectively, but showing a modified means of securing a member of I-section.

In Figure 1 a frame work for a building such as a house is shown, this frame work being arranged to be positioned upon a foundation wall I. The lower part of the frame work consists of sills composed of sections of I-beams- 2, 3, l, and 5 across which extend floor beams or joists '6. Vertical members or posts l, corresponding to the studs of a wooden building, rest upon the upper surface of the sills and support at their upper ends headers 8, 9, l0, and II, corresponding in length and position to sills 2 to 5 respectively. Upon these headers may be positioned another series of floor beams or joists I2, and other ver tical members or studs l 3 may be positioned above these headers to form the wall of a second story, the posts or studs carrying at their tops another series of headers 1'4. Only one such second story section is shown in position.

The parts described are arranged in general in a manner similar to those in frame buildings, whether the frame be of wood or of metal. However, the manner of forming these walls is quite different from that heretofore used with either of these materials.

The walls are composed of sections, each section in the first story consisting of a sill portion, a header portion, and the studs or posts positioned between these two, these sections being most conveniently completely fabricated in a shop and conveyed thence to the scene of the installation, placed end to end upon the foundation wall and secured together. i

In Figure 2 the apparatus for forming the sections is illustrated. It consists of a flat surface such as part of a shop floor l5 upon which bracket like abutments l6 may be secured, some of these abutments being adjustable to accommodate sections of different size and arrangement. The extreme right hand section of Figure l is shown as in place within the jig or gage formed by the floor and abutments and it will be seen that sill portion 5 is retained in place with at least two abutments is hearing on its outer side wall, and spaced from and parallel to it is similarly retained header section I l. Studs 1, shown as four in number, extend transversely between the first two members, these also being positively located by adjustable blocks or abutments secured to the base or floor !5. When the parts have been thus assembled, and, if desired, clamped to the floor, each other or the blocks 56, it is a simple matter to weld the joints where the ends of the posts abut the other two members.

The parts are held from distortion and square corners assured by the blocks or brackets.

It is also possible to weld downwardly on one side of the section, thereafter lift the section as with a. crane, turn it over, and weld downwardly on the other side, thus assuring properly fused joints. It will be noted that no stud is united to the end of a sill or header piece, excepting where this end occurs at a corner of the building, and at these corners short or stub sill or header pieces I! may be welded, also being clamped to the adjacent brackets l6 and so held in proper alignment, extending in the plane of the adjoining wall section.

It is therefore, in erecting the frame work for the first story, only necessary to place a comparatively few previous formed sections upon the foundation and to Splice the abutting ends of the successive sill and header sections, all splicing being performed between the studs and joists, so that these do not obstruct the operator in making the connections.

The manner in which these splices may be made is best illustrated in Figure 3, in which the ends of two sills, for instance 4 and 5, are shown as substantially abutting. After these have been placed in position, clamping members I! are placed within the space between the webs and flanges of these beams and clamped together as by C-clamps l8. The clamping members are conveniently formed of sheet metal having end flanges l9 arranged to bear upon the inner surface of the flanges of the beam, and central portions outwardly offset as indicated at 2!], so that relatively little adjustment of the C-clamps is required to force these members together. Pressure exerted on the offset central portions of the bearing members will tend to bend these parts inwardly, distorting these clamping members to press the flanges l9 outwardly upon the flanges of the sill. I V

This is probably more clearly illustrated in Figure 4 in which the original or normal shape of the clamping members is indicated in dash lines, while the shape when clamped upon the beams is shown in full lines.

By a clamp of this kind, the ends of the sills are brought into and firmly held in alignment both horizontally and vertically, while if any lengthwise adjustment is necessary, it may be accomplished by spacing the ends of the sills apart.

The lower flange H) of the clamping member is cut away, as shown at 2!, so that unobstructed access to the upper surface of the ends of the lower flanges of the sills is provided. The operator can therefore very easily weld downwardly across these flanges, as is illustrated in Figure 3, and also weld downwardly along the upper surface of the upper flanges of the sills as shown at 22. After the sill has been welded, the clamping members and clamps may be removed; or the clamping members may be welded to the sills to reinforce the splice joint, and the C clamps only removed. The joists 6 are easily applied by being laid across the sills and welded to them.

The manner of locating these joists will be more fully discussed in connection with the application .of the second story of the frame.

Upon the upper surface of headers 8 to H are welded, while in the jig, guides for the reception of the ends of studs 13, these being shown as located and held in place by blocks or abutments 23 in Figure 2. These guides are most simply formed as shown in Figures 6 and '7, being merely small rectangular bars 2 5 with their ends bevelled as at 25 to fit against the inner surface on the flanges of the studs, indicated in dot-and-dash lines and are welded to the top of the headers. A modified form of locating means is shown in Figures 8 and 9 in which substantially D-shaped pieces of metal 26, shaped on their exterior to fit the space between the web and flange of the stud, are provided, the welding being performed within the openings through the blocks, so that it will not interfere with the stud or the exterior of the block.

The second story sections are formed in the same manner as those for the first story, excepting that the sills are omitted. The studs may be joined together by a connecting rod or wire, although unless the sections are very roughly handled such a provision will be found unnecessary.

After the first story wall has been completed, the joist l2 may be laid upon the top thereof, and the second story wall sections raised and set in place, this being conveniently done by a portable crane clamped to some of the joists l2. These sections are simply moved into position and lowered so that the lower ends of studs i3 slide into the spaces defined by the locating blocks 24 or 26. The corner sections of the first story wall are provided with stub studs 27 with which the corner stud of the second story may be spliced in the manner in which the sills and headers are joined, although if desired these studs might also be located by blocks, as are those intermediate the corners. When the sections of the upper story have been completely assembled and the splices clamped together, the joints, both spliced and butt, may be conveniently welded.

In Figure 1 a simple form of derrick is shown which may be conveniently used in erecting sections of the frame, particularly in the upper stories. This derrick consists of a triangular frame having a base I!!! upon the ends of which are mounted two upwardly converging struts I02 and H13, the struts at their upper end carrying a short horizontal beam W4. A rearwardly extending strut B95 is connected to beam I04 adjacent the ends of struts I02 and 103, and its lower end may be connected to the cross member IUI. A Windlass consisting of a drum E06 is mounted on shaft I01 extending across the triangular frame and is operated by a handle 03, a suitable ratchet mechanism being provided to prevent unwinding, and from the drum a line 19 passes upwardly and over sheaves H0 and Ill, this line being provided at its end with a hook I I2 by which it may be connected to a section to be lifted into position, such as shown at H3.

After the first story sections have been erected, the floor beams l2 for the second story may be laid upon them and either welded into position or secured by clamps, chains or in any other manner. The base I (H is set across several of the floor beams and the end of strut I05 secured to one of these beams by a chain or other connecting means H4. This apparatus is light and may easily be moved from place to place and with it a single operator can raise the sections to the positions in which they are to be erected and support said sections while the clamps are being applied.

The floor beams l2 may be accurately located by means of the blocks 24 or 26 against the sides of which they may rest, and their flanges welded to the top of the headers, and of course similar locating blocks may be used upon the first fioor sills to locate the fioor beams 6 in a like manner.

It will be. noted that the studs may be arranged in any desired manner, to accommodate doors, windows and the like, and that where a large span between them is present, the header may be reinforced by a supplemental section 28, this extending across the tops of the adjacent studs, so that the joints between it and the studs will be subjected to compression and not shear.

Obviously, door and window frames and the like can be assembled with the wall sections, and the sections may be covered with metal lath, sheet metal, or like material to form a component part of the finished wall, these operations being most conveniently and accurately performed in the shop and saving considerable labor in the field.

In Figure 4 an application of the clamp means to a channel-shaped section is shown. In this instance, the concave side of the section is en gaged by a bearing member I1, just as if used on I-sections, while the flat side of the channel is engaged by a flat plate 29.

In Figure 5 bearing members, corresponding to those shown at IT, but having much shallower central projections 20A are illustrated and it will be understood that the bearing members could well be channel or U-shaped without any central projection. In the latter case, however, the flanges engaging those of the beam should fit the latter closely, as the expansion of these flanges above described will be lacking.

No roof structure has been illustrated in the drawings, but it will be obvious that a roof of any desired shape may be prow'ded with end sections of inverted v or truss formation, manufactured as are the wall sections, the heaters upon which these are to be secured being provided with locating blocks, stubs or other means to which they may be secured.

While I have described the illustrated embodiment of my invention in some particularity, obviously many others will readily occur to those skilled in the art to which this appertains, and I therefore do not limit myself to the precise details shown and described herein, but claim as my invention all embodiments, variations and modifications coming within the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. Ajoint comprising a metallic member, two blocks welded to a surface thereof and shaped to fit a part of the surface of the end of a metallic rolled section, a metallic rolled section having an end positioned in contact with said blocks, and welding uniting the blocks and rolled section to the first mentioned piece.

2. A joint comprising a metallic member, a block welded to a surface thereof and shaped to fit a part of the surface of the end of a metallic rolled section, a metallic rolled section having an end positioned in contact with said block, and welding uniting the block and rolled section to the first mentioned piece.

CECIL C. PECK. 

